Recovering post ablation

[kitenski]

Evening,

I've read the really useful PDF linked elsewhere in here, but wanted to ask, is the aim to keep the heart rate low during recovery?

I am 51 and otherwise fit and healthy, I sleep well, around 8 hours a night.

It has been a week since my operation and I am feeling pretty good now despite a chest infection complication! I walked outside to the post office and back today which was lovely in the sun.

I am considering watching my hockey team over the weekend, but my wife is wondering if I will get too excited and raise my HR too much?

So just wondering what we are trying to do post ablation, apart from "take it easy" which I've been doing! Is it deliberately not trying to raise the HR as well as resting and not get over excited?

Also what experiences can people share on going back to work? I was planning to goto work Monday, which I will be working at home. Tues/Wed I could potentially be travelling in the Tues then to London and back on the train Wed, so fairly low stress, just no idea how my body will react?

Thanks,

Greg

[BobD Volunteer]

Basically you are trying not to work your heart very much at all for the first couple of weeks. We used to say week one TV remote only and week two you can make the tea but a lot depends on how fit or otherwise you were first. I wouldn't have thought watching hockey should be particularly stressful bu then I am not a hockey fan. I get more upset and stressed watching TV news these days than anything I do. (Not going to even mention the B word.)

[RiderontheStorm]

Greg, Everyone is different. I was in splendid shape and a competitor who was very healthy and it took me a year to get back to normal low sinus rhythm. Do what feels right. Your body will tell you when enough it enough. Many go back to work fairly soon. Some, not so much.

[AIW58 in reply to RiderontheStorm]

Hi

when you say it took a year to regain a lower heart rate did you feel unwell with a higher heart rate? You'll see from my reply to Greg I am booked for ablation March 28th. My resting rate is 50ish currently, I'm active but not super fit, I've had a slow (45-50+)resting HR all my life (now 59) and wondering whether I'll notice a higher rate in the recovery phase.

amanda

[RiderontheStorm in reply to AIW58]

I did not feel unwell during this time. I did suffer from a serious PE about 11 days after the ablation and between the ablation and PE right after It took me 90 days to recover and get off blood thinners entirely and walk more than 50 steps. I've have been fine since except for occasional use of Flecanide in AF emergencies. The long 6-7 hour period of anesthesia was the worst part for me. For a few months after being under deep anesthesia I had Trumps 45 word vocabulary vice my normal ability to quickly articulate fully.

[AIW58 in reply to RiderontheStorm]

Gosh that sounds hard going. I'm glad you're ok again now. Must've been hit hard to be as inarticulate as Trump!!

[50done in reply to RiderontheStorm]

Really, you have knock Trump at this point and on this venue.

[AIW58]

Hi Greg,

I am interested in how you go on, I am listed for ablation end of March and have the same queries as you. I 'only' have short (3-6 hours) episodes of fast AF and none since starting flecainide last Sept. I'm 59 and quite active. So I hope I will feel OK afterwards. I am going to follow the advice on this forum, as you have, that we should listen to our bodies and not push it. Were you signed off work by your GP? I don't want to use my annual leave if the medics say no reason not to work!

amanda

[kitenski in reply to AIW58]

I'll let you know amanda, sadly I am back in A Fib, seeing a consultant Tues to discus next steps.

My RHR drops down to sub 50 during the day, but appears to spike over 100 whilst asleep currently, just a week after my ablation.

[AIW58]

I'm sorry to hear that. Hopefully it'll settle as having episodes of AF after ablation seems fairly common judging from posts here.

Good luck.

Amanda

[Hidden]

Greg, even with the understanding that we are each different in experiencing AF and recovering, I would err on the side of caution.

I had my second ablation in Dec. 2017. I did rest immediately afterwards, but also started going for walks. The challenge I've always found with dealing with AF has been the delay between doing something like going for a walk or doing gentle weights and the impact on my heart. I still have challenges with not overdoing it, as I can feel great while I'm walking or whatever it is I'm doing that might be a bit strenuous, only to experience a delayed reaction perhaps a few hours later of an episode of AF.

My ablation ultimately was not considered a success and I know that it's impossible to ever know exactly why it didn't work. That said, if I had it to do over, I would have been far more cautious and restful initially post-ablation. I'd have gone for walks, but shorter ones. I was used to pushing myself more with exercise, etc. Not running marathons or anything extreme, but I can best describe it as my own entirely unintentional form of "bullying" my poor stressed out little heart!

I think of my heart like a baby or young child. Sometimes positive, fun things can just be overstimulating. The heart has been through a lot in an ablation. Even fun things can be stressful in a way they might not have been pre-ablation and unlike another part of the body that can instantly register pain as a signal of overdoing it, the heart doesn't necessarily communicate in that way. I know I'm way more sensitive than the average person and have become quite attuned to what my heart needs, but even so, I still become amazed by how something can ultimately be too stressful.

With all the stressors I've discovered in dealing with AF, I've learned that it is entirely not worth it to put myself in certain situations. This is a learning curve with AF we each must deal with.

Hope that might be helpful. Best wishes for your recovery!

[kitenski in reply to Hidden]

thank you Hidden , how many days post your op did you start walking and how far did you go?? I've only walked a few 100m down to our post office and back so far and kept an eye on my HR whilst doing so....

[Hidden]

There's a wonderful walk I do around a little lake in the woods, so I'm out in nature. Much, much better for the heart than being in a gym. I have an app called Pedometer++ that tracks steps/mileage.

I don't remember exactly how long I waited to go out walking, maybe a couple of weeks? But I can see on my app that one month after I was walking 3 miles, which I don't even do now. I pushed it too much, but, again, I was feeling good and really didn't have a handle on just how much rest the heart needs in order to recover.

I started walking every day, but pushed too much in the beginning. I learned the hard way, after being slammed with episodes! I'm wiser now. 😂

Now I walk between 1.5 to 2 miles every day and this is a good amount for me. A moderate to brisk walk out in nature. It's easier for me to lose weight doing less, so I've learned that all the conventional wisdom about pushing and straining with exercise is actually rather foolish, at least for me it is!

I'm grateful for what I learned from my former acupuncturist, too, who was supporting me at that time. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the heart is viewed really quite differently in many ways as compared to Western culture. The push, push, push ultra Iron Man triathlete kind of thing (no offense to any of those folks who might be here!) you just will not find in folks who embrace this different view of the role of the heart in TCM. This information has helped me a lot.